Understanding Social Institutions Class 11 Sociology

Introduction

• Our status and role are predetermined and not subject to choice, unlike the roles an actor might play.
• Social institutions, including governmental and familial structures, impose limitations, punishments, and rewards on individuals.
• Sociology and anthropology examine these institutions, which are the focus of this chapter.

Institutions

An institution is an entity that operates based on established rules, which can be set by law or custom. Its regular operation depends on adhering to these principles. Individuals are bound by these institutions. Institutions can also be seen as means to an end. 

For example, the family, church, state, and education are viewed as both means and ends in themselves.

• Sociological Perspectives:
  Sociological interpretations of institutions vary. The functionalist and conflict perspectives offer different views on social phenomena such as stratification and social control.

• Functionalist Perspective:
  From this view, social institutions are seen as complex systems of social norms, beliefs, values, and role relationships that emerge to meet societal needs. Societies have both formal and informal institutions. For instance, family and religion are considered informal social institutions, while law and education are formal social institutions.

• Conflict Perspective:
  This perspective argues that not all individuals are treated equally in society. Social institutions—including family, religion, politics, economics, law, and education—serve the interests of dominant groups. The dominant sector influences political and economic institutions and ensures that the ruling class's beliefs become the prevailing ideas in society.

Family, Marriage and Kinship

A family is a group of individuals connected by blood, with adult members responsible for caring for children. Kinship links refer to relationships formed through marriage or bloodline that connect relatives.

Research on Family, Marriage, and Kinship: Sociology and social anthropology have conducted field research across various cultures to highlight the importance of family, marriage, and kinship institutions in all communities, though these institutions have different characteristics in different societies.

Functionalist Perspective: From this viewpoint, the family is crucial for fulfilling society’s basic needs and maintaining social order. Functionalists believe that modern industrial societies function best when women handle family care and men earn the family’s income.

Nuclear Family: Functionalists see the nuclear family as the ideal unit for industrial society. In this setup, one adult works outside the home while the other manages domestic tasks and child-rearing. The division of labor within the nuclear family typically involves:

• Husband: Taking on the "instrumental" role of breadwinner.
• Wife: Assuming the "affective" role, focusing on emotional care and domestic responsibilities.

Variation in Family Forms

• Shift in Family Structures: There has been a shift from nuclear families to joint families in India. Historically, nuclear families were common, especially among deprived castes and classes.

• Increase in Joint Families: The rise in joint families post-independence is attributed to increased life expectancy. Between 1941-50 and 1981-85, life expectancy in India improved significantly: from 32.5 to 55.4 years for men and from 31.7 to 55.7 years for women.

• Impact of the Elderly Population: The growing elderly population (60 years and above) contributes to the rise in joint households.

• Challenge to Common Views: The shift challenges the common sense view of family structures, highlighting the need for empirical studies.

• Matrilocal vs. Patrilocal Family Structures:
  Matrilocal: Living with the wife’s parents.
  Patrilocal: Living with the husband’s parents.

• Patriarchal vs. Matriarchal Family Structures:
  Patriarchal: Men hold authority.
  Matriarchal: Women hold significant power, though true matriarchal societies are rare.

• Matrilineal Societies: These societies trace lineage through the mother, but genuine matriarchal societies are less common.

How gendered is the family? 

• Belief that a male child will support parents in old age and a female child will leave upon marriage leads to greater investment in male children.
• Despite biological facts that female babies have better survival rates, the infant mortality rate for female children is higher compared to male children in India.

The Institution of Marriage

Forms of Marriage

Variety of Marriage Forms:
Marriage exhibits a range of forms based on the number of partners and the rules governing who can marry whom.

1. Monogamy: Monogamy restricts individuals to one spouse at a time. This means a man can have only one wife, and a woman can have only one husband at any given time.
2. Polygamy: Polygamy allows marriage to more than one partner simultaneously and includes:

• Polygyny: One husband with multiple wives.
• Polyandry: One wife with multiple husbands.
  Despite the allowance for polygamy in some societies, monogamy remains more widely practiced.

3. Serial Monogamy: This form allows individuals to marry again, typically after the death of a spouse or divorce, but prohibits having more than one spouse at the same time.

Widow Remarriage:
Historically, widow remarriage was restricted, particularly among upper-caste Hindus, and became a significant issue during the 19th-century reform movements. In contemporary India, widowhood is still prevalent, with nearly 10% of all women and 55% of women over fifty being widows.

Polyandry and Economic Conditions:
Polyandry can arise in response to harsh economic conditions where a single male cannot adequately support a wife and children. In extreme poverty, polyandry may also serve as a means of population limitation.

The Matter of Arranging Marriages: Rules and Prescriptions

Rules of Endogamy and Exogamy

Work and Economic Life

What is Work? 

• Work is often imagined as paid employment when we are children and students.
• This view of work is an oversimplification and does not encompass all types of work.
• Many forms of work, such as those in the informal economy, are not included in official employment statistics.
• The informal economy involves transactions outside regular employment, including the exchange of cash for services or direct goods and services.
• Work can be defined as tasks requiring mental and physical effort aimed at producing goods and services that meet human needs, whether paid or unpaid.

Modern Work Forms and Labor Division

• Pre-Modern Societies:
  In pre-modern societies, most individuals worked in agriculture or animal husbandry. In countries like India, a significant portion of the population is still engaged in rural-based occupations and agriculture.

• Modern Economic Systems:
  Modern economies are characterized by a complex division of labor. Work is divided into many specialized occupations, a stark contrast to traditional societies where non-agricultural work often involved a specific craft.

• Work and Industrialization:
  Before industrialization, work was mainly conducted at home by all household members. The advent of industrial technology, such as coal-powered machines and electricity, led to a separation of work from the home. Industrial development centered around factories operated by capitalist entrepreneurs.

• Specialized Employment:
  Individuals seeking employment in factories were trained to perform specialized tasks and were compensated accordingly. This specialization is a key feature of modern society.

• Economic Interdependence:
  Modern societies exhibit significant economic interdependence. With few exceptions, most people do not produce their own food, build their own homes, or make the goods they use.

Transformation of Work

• Mass production is dependent on the existence of mass markets. The development of the moving assembly line was one of the most important innovations in modern industrial production. This type of production required expensive equipment and continuous monitoring of employees using surveillance or monitoring systems.
• In recent decades, there has been a move towards what is known as "flexible production" and the "decentralisation of work." It is argued that in the era of globalisation, increasing competition between firms and countries necessitates the organisation of production to respond to changing market conditions.

Politics

• Political Institutions:
  Political institutions handle the distribution of power within a society.

• Power:
  Power is the ability of individuals or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others. It often means that those in power benefit at the expense of others. Power is relational and the total amount of power in a society is fixed.

• Authority:
  Authority is the use of power to enforce rules or make decisions. For instance, a school principal has the authority to enforce discipline, while a political party president has the authority to expel members. Authority is considered a legitimate and reasonable form of power and is often institutionalized based on this legitimacy. People respect those in authority because they believe their use of power is fair and just.

Stateless Societies

The Concept of the State

A state consists of a political apparatus (such as institutions like parliament or congress) that rules over a given territory, supported by a legal system and military force.

• Functionalist Perspective:
  The functionalist perspective sees the state as representing all sections of society.

• Conflict Perspective:
  The conflict perspective views the state as representing the dominant sections of society.

Modern States:
Modern states are defined by sovereignty, citizenship, and nationalism.

1. Sovereignty: Refers to the undisputed political rule over a territory.

2. Citizenship Rights: These include the following

• Civil Rights: Freedom of movement, speech, religion, property, and justice.
• Political Rights: Rights related to elections and public office.
• Social Rights: Economic welfare benefits like health benefits and minimum wages. Social rights led to the welfare state, established in Western societies post-World War II but less prevalent in developing countries and currently challenged globally.

3. Nationalism: A sense of belonging to a political community (e.g., 'British' or 'Indian') that emerged with the modern state.

Contemporary Issues with States:
The contemporary world features rapid global market expansion and intense nationalist feelings and conflicts. Sociologists study the distribution of power not only in formal government but also across parties, classes, castes, and communities based on factors like race, language, and religion.

Religion

• Study of Religion:
  Religion has long been a subject of study, with sociological findings often differing from religious reflections.

• Sacred and Profane:
  Sociologists, following Emile Durkheim, study the sacred realm, which societies distinguish from the profane. The sacred often includes elements of the supernatural, though some religions (e.g., early Buddhism, Confucianism) may not conceive of the supernatural but still hold certain things as sacred.

• Sociological Examination:
  Studying religion sociologically examines its relationship with other social institutions and its impact on power and politics.

• Historical Movements:
  Historically, there have been religious movements for social change, addressing issues like caste and gender discrimination.

• Public and Private:
  Religion is not only a private belief but also has a public character affecting other societal institutions.

• Secularization:
  Classical sociologists believed that with modernization, religion would become less influential, a process known as secularization. However, contemporary events show that religion still plays a significant role, challenging the notion of secularization.

• Max Weber's Work:
  Max Weber's pioneering work links Calvinism to the rise of capitalism, showing religion’s influence on economic behavior and investment.

• Influences on Religion:
  Religious norms influence and are influenced by social forces such as politics, economics, and gender norms.

• Women and Religion:
  The relationship between women and religion is an important sociological question.

• Integration with Society:
  Religion integrates with other societal parts and plays a central role in traditional societies, often blending with material and artistic culture.

• Sociological Methods:
  Sociology studies religion through empirical methods (observing actual functioning), comparative methods (comparing all societies), and by relating religious life to domestic, economic, and political life.

• Common Characteristics:
  Religions share characteristics like symbols invoking reverence, rituals or ceremonies, and a community of believers. Rituals vary but often include praying, chanting, fasting, etc., and are distinct from everyday life. Religious ceremonies are practiced collectively in sacred places like churches, mosques, temples, and shrines.

• Sacred Realms:
  Sacred realms are approached with feelings of awe and respect, often involving specific rituals (e.g., covering one's head, specific dress codes).

Education

• Education is a lifelong process involving both formal and informal learning. This discussion focuses on school education.

• Admission to school is crucial for many, serving as a gateway to higher education, employment, and acquiring social skills.

• Sociology views education as a transmission of group heritage, common to all societies, with distinctions between simple societies and complex, modern societies.

• In simple societies, education was informal, with children learning customs and life skills through participation with adults.

• Complex societies require formal education due to the economic division of labor, separation of work from home, and the need for specialized learning.

• In modern societies, education is formal and explicit due to abstract universalistic values, as opposed to the particularistic values of simple societies.

• Modern schools promote uniformity, standardized aspirations, and universalistic values. Examples include uniform dress for school children.

• Emile Durkheim argued that society needs a common base of ideas, sentiments, and practices that education must inculcate in all children, regardless of their social category.

• Education prepares children for specific occupations and helps internalize core values of society. It maintains and renews the social structure and transmits culture.

• According to functionalist sociologists, education also serves as a mechanism for selection and allocation of individuals into future societal roles and statuses based on their abilities.

• For sociologists who view society as unequally differentiated, education acts as a stratifying agent and reflects social stratification.

• Educational opportunities vary based on socio-economic background, leading to differences in privileges and opportunities.

• Privileged schooling can intensify the divide between the elite and the masses, affecting confidence and opportunities.

• Many children cannot attend school or drop out, which perpetuates inequality in educational attainment and future opportunities.

Important terms

• Citizen: An individual who is part of a political community, with both rights and responsibilities associated with that membership.

• Division of Labour: The specialization of work tasks where different occupations are integrated into a production system. While all societies have some form of division of labour, industrialism greatly enhances this complexity, making it international in scope in the modern world.

• Gender: Socially defined expectations about appropriate behavior for each sex, serving as a fundamental organizing principle in society.

• Empirical Investigation: The process of factual inquiry conducted within a specific area of sociological research.

• Endogamy: The practice of marrying within a particular caste, class, or tribal group.

• Exogamy: The practice of marrying outside a specific group of relations.

• Ideology: Shared beliefs or ideas that justify the interests of dominant groups, prevalent in societies with systemic inequalities. Ideologies are linked with power, as they legitimize the unequal distribution of power among groups.

• Legitimacy: The perception that a political system or order is just and valid.

• Monogamy: A marital arrangement involving one husband and one wife exclusively.

• Polygamy: A marital arrangement where an individual has more than one spouse simultaneously.

• Polyandry: A form of polygamy where one woman is married to multiple men.

• Polygyny: A form of polygamy where one man is married to multiple women.

• Service Industries: Sectors focused on producing services rather than goods, such as the travel industry.

• State Society: A society with a formal system of government institutions.

• Stateless Society: A society without formal governmental institutions.

• Social Mobility: The ability to move between different social statuses or occupations.

• Sovereignty: The ultimate and uncontested political authority of a state over a defined territorial area.